A GRASMERE widow who lost her husband to cancer in February this year is set to give the Gazette’s Driving Hospice Care campaign some serious pedal power.

Liz Harrison, 55, has vowed to undertake a gruel-ling sponsored bike ride to raise cash for 4x4s for nurses as a ‘thank you’ for the care they gave her husband, Thomas, in his last days.

“I just can’t praise them enough. The bike ride is the least I can do,” she said.

“I couldn’t have got through that time without the nurses, I really couldn’t, so if I can help them I will gladly do it.”

Mrs Harrison plans to complete an 82-mile round trip between her home, at Dunmail Raise, and the hos-pice in north Lancashire, with all the cash she raises going to the Driving Hospice Care campaign.

She will be joined by her grandson Callum Harrison, aged 20.

“The whole family saw the brilliant care the nurses gave Thomas so it makes sense that they want to be involved too,” she said.

“I saw the campaign in the Gazette and realised what a perfect opportunity it was to thank the Hospice at Home team.”

Mr Harrison died after a three year battle with meso-thelioma, or lung cancer.

He had already undergone one round of chemotherapy and was in the middle of a second phase at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary when he became too poorly to continue.

“He just hated it in hospital. He’d lived all his life in Grasmere and loved the outdoors but in hospital he was unable to even see out of a window,” said Mrs Harrison.

“Knowing he was some-where he felt comfortable when he died is something I will never forget.”

The Hospice at Home nurses visited twice a day, administering pain relief and offering psychological support to the family.

Mr Harrison died on Feb-ruary 15 at home in his ‘beloved’ Grasmere.

Mrs Harrison and Callum, an apprentice at the Words-worth Trust, will complete the bike ride on October 28.

“I’m not a cyclist so it will be a struggle but I’ll have Callum there to keep me going,” said Mrs Harrison.

“I just hope we get a lot of sponsorship. The Hospice at Home team are amazing and deserve all the help they can get.”

To find out how to sponsor the pair, or to donate bikes they can use, call 01539-435 340.

 

To donate to the Westmorland Gazette’s Driving Hospice Care campaign send cheques made payable to Driving Hospice Care to Anna Clarke, The Westmorland Gazette, 1 Wainwright’s Yard, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 4DP.

Cheques should be marked on the back ‘Driving Hospice Care’. Please include your name, full postal address, telephone number and email address.